Tryst with Fujack.K1

Beware if this worm/virus, it can really screw up the PCn (no data loss as of now, but browser redirecting to gcafe.com); your USB drives, other USB devices like digital cameras, cellphones are are infected and it infects the folders, and making it executable file, PC not being able to open the folders. It spreads though, USB very smoothly. So it is really dangerous and it can really make your life difficult. Making your digital images or other data, unavailable when you need it. And free antivirus that I was using did not seem to detect and cure it. Still not able to open images from digital camera to computer, though I can see them in camera. Quick Heal anti virus seemed to detect it. But still no solution for image transfer to PC from the camera. Hope I will get it solved.

Microbiology resources

For those who really want to elevate their microbiology work to higher level, there are atleast two resources that can really help you this include the microbe library. Where thousands of images of bacterial gram stain, colony appearances are present. this is a very huge and authentic resource. Secondly you can be helped by this Univ Of Leeds initiative. If you want great details and SOPs, this is a UK site for you.

National Seminar on 21st Century Medical Education in India at SMIMS

Hello All,
Came back from the southern tip of the Indian nation, Kanyakumari,
where (at SMIMS) it was my pleasure to deliver a talk on telemedicine.
Other speakers were Dr. Devanayagam who spoke on integration of modern
medicine with Siddha system of Medicine, he made one interesting
observation that modern medicine treats the disease where as ancient
Indian medicine treats the patient. Modern medicine gives same
treatment to all the patients with same disease, while same might not
be the case with Siddha, as each patient is different. Of course there
were (rather was single) voice of dissent. But majority seemed to
agree with Dr. Devanayagam.
Then it was my turn speak, and look at the irony, I was delivering a
talk on I.T. in medicine; and LCD and my laptop did not want to
communicate with each other! But ultimately we resolved the issue and
I went on with my talk. This same presentation can be found at my home
page - http://sachinkale1.tripod.com.
I got the feedback that there was excess of information for the time
allotted (45 min), so I had to keep going for 15 more minutes (I
think!) (I do not know whether it sounded like eternity to the audience!)
But number of people did ask for copy of presentation and they also
thought it was interesting.
Then there was lunch and cultural dance entertainment program. The
girls and boys really danced their way to everyone's heart. You can
also check out little bit one such beautiful dance on Mukunda Mukunda
(Dasavataram song) on my home page.
Then there was a session on microteaching and Problem Based learning.
That evening there was nice dinner at Baywatch theme park at
KanyaKumari. Next day also there were good topics like "Medical
Ethics: Current Scenario" "Economics of health care" and Doctor as a
leader of health Team" But could not attend them as I had important
business back home. But full credit to organisers and especially Dr.
Srinivasa Kannan, for excellant arrangements, as such it was really an experience to remember for a long time.

HTC s710 continuous reboot solution

If you have this phone and if it starts giving you starting trouble, for some reason you switch it off and it refuses to start completely again, goes into sequence of starting halfway again rebooting, then solution is here. People have suggested removing SIM card or storage card and starting the phone, switching it off again, putting the card back and starting again. Just worked for me!

The Life and the work

There is always so much to do. How everybody manages, I am not sure. All I can say is life is not easy. But can be fun if it is managed well.

How to solve tough cases?

Understand what u r examining.
Collect all the data.
Add gross and microscopic data.
Compare it with all possible lesions.
Rule out the possibilities one by one zeroing on the diagnosis.
If still not comfortable consult a colleague with more experience in that area.
Amen.

Trying to post through mobile

If this post apears on the blog, it wil be a success!

Mondays are always tough!

So many things have to be done on Mondays only. Takes away every little enjoyment done on Sundays.

How to unclutter life and work

Battling with the clutter most of the time. Got to take decisions then and there (mostly). If I keep it for later, things get lost, and I end up spending more time looking for them.
Must have proper places for everything.
A set of rules for taking decisions.
This should happen at spinal level or as a learned reflex.
Let us see...

MIgrating from Nokia E50 to HTC s710

Posting after a long gap, lots of things have happened in between, got the new mini Vidas machine, started number of new tests. That took lot of effort, but in the end things seem to have settled down.
Little bit of alteration is going on in the premises, not much attention being paid there, hoping that things will take care of themselves; afterall mother and better half are paying attention on that front.
MGM medical college - work has multiplied over the years. Everybody has to elevate their performance to next level.
Respite is hard to get, when it comes it should not squandered in watching TV, it should be spent in thinking about how to improve work efficiency so that day to day work becomes less bothersome.
Anyway, let me return to my experience with s710, yeah it has that Windows tag and all. Not used office much, except ofcourse the outlook syncronisation, that is a dream, though it needs some tweaking to get emails from mobile memory to memory card. Again people have had this issue and they have solved it through a hack in the registry. Details are can be found somewhere on the web.
Then came the big problem contacts, again that was not as difficult as expected, once they were backed on to desktop outlook from E50 and then went to new s710... time consuming but so far so good.
Camera looks better, as expected, being 2 megapixel; got to play with it some more to get the feel.
Overall phone is little bit slow and bulky compared to Nokia E50, contacts keep disappearing time and again, and need reboot to make them appear again.
I don't what is it about windows that makes reboot such a important routine!
Anyway overall it is good change. Especially the email sync, it is cool! When nokia gets this on their lower end phones, that will be tough to beat.
BSNL broadband wi-fi and vodafone GPRS still not configured, will try...

Bottomline - this is definitely worth a try.

Festival of Lights!

Come diwali and markets are bright with Diyas of every kind. The shops selling these diyas were taking my breath away. See what I mean...

Ledias and Jents!

Karnapura festival offers many attractions. Could never muster courage to take a ride in giant wheel, but my son's enthusiasm prevailed, off we went, through this entrace!


On to this giant wheel, we went, first three rounds were horrible, but then I got the hang of it, and we enjoyed the ride.

Two festivals...

Lord of Drums!

Ganpati festival is time for everyone to brush up their skills on drums. Growing up in this part, I have always been fortunate to be part of this amazing 'josh'.
Check this year's procession

Iftar Party!

Never been to any such event, and it was such a pleasant thing, when I went there. Fruits, Falooda, and samosas were mouth watering.

My father achieves his freedom on 15th Aug

He was another common man with some uncommon qualities. He could be strict, he could be angry but he understood what a child feels. He was a best friend a child, and a young man can have. Surely, those who knew him will agree.

He had such a zeal for life. He always wished that we have great time.

When I was a child he made mathematics easy for me; as a young man, he encouraged me to read books & magazines . He helped me through the tough life of a medical student and saw me become a self sufficient doctor.

He was ill for couple of years. Like many of us it was tough for him to bear his illness; but his spirit outshone his health problems. When he got little better last year, he purchased a used Maruti 800, against my trepidation. And then onwards he used to travel 100 kms every day, visiting Devgadh, Nevasa, Ranjangaon, Paithan, Kankaleshwar number of times.

He just loved to travel, I was worried; but he always used to return, with my dear mother and driver by his side.
On 13th August, Monday morning, he had a freak accident; neither he nor we know how he fell from his bed where he was reading newspaper; and, I think that accident broke something more than his femur, it broke his spirit; and on Wednesday, he developed pulmonary embolism and passed away.
Now when I look at his bed... his TV remote control, eyes fill up with tears; and mind fills up with his fond memories.

To every child, father occupies a special place in his heart. Of course my feelings towards my father are no different; he was truly special.

He gave me more than my life; he gave me a way of life!

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi!

Nirastra Bhav!

That is Harry Potter doing his jaadu in desi. Well, I am as confused about what the movie was about, after coming back from the movie, as I was while watching it. I thought the confusion was because I missed the first 10 min, but, when I read that only thing that happens in those 10 minutes is the incident that prompts Harry to use his magic outside the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and leads to a threat of expulsion from the school.
Needles to say he is saved from expulsion by his Prof Dumbledore. Then there is a piece about ministry getting paranoid that Dumbledore is creating a magician's force, which could pose security risk to ministry. And they send Dolores Umbridge, as a teacher at Hogwarts, who makes life of students quite miserable. How she meets her nemesis, is one part of picture. And it is as non-noteworthy as rest of the movie.
Then there is a threat from (now returned) Lord Voldemort, and he is trying to take over control of Harry's brain. And that is climax of the movie, where Voldemort and his cronies have a confrontation with Harry, Ron, Hermione & colleagues.
Dumbledore appears from nowhere and fights a battle of his life to return the attack launched by evil Voldemort. Then Harry does a mental battle with Voldemort and prevents him from taking over his brain. And that was it.
Well, I was waiting that something worth attention to take place somewhere in the movie. But I kept waiting and movie ended without giving that something.
Must have made sense to die hard HP fans, but for the uninitiated in HP saga, it was a case of movie falling well short of expectation.
But who is complaining when it is a big hit at the box office!

Ellora in rainy season!

Wish I was a poet to describe this greenery!

Somewhat difficult route to Sita Ki nahani

The Waterfall on cave 29 - The Sita ki Nahani

View from Sita ki nahani
A cave with a view!
Hand in hand!

Cricket on the Mhaismal plains

Fascinated by the wild flowers! So cute!

First Rains at Aurangabad caves: A Pictorial Essay !

Chini Kum

Had heard that it is again a ‘young girl falls in love with old man’ film. Directors from bollywood and holiwood have been flirting with this idea since long time, and there are many films attesting to this for example ‘Jogger’s Park’ & ‘Six Nights & Seven Days’. Novelty was the way the inevitable love happens, this time the old man (Buddhadev Gupta) is none other than big B, and girl (Nina Verma) is charming and now mature Tabbu. Big B is chef and owner of a restaurant which according to his own words is ‘finest Indian restaurant in whole of England’. Tabbu drops into his restaurant and returns a Jafrani rice unsatisfied. Big B with his big ego as a best chef explains why his hotel is the best and insults her, and she leaves crying. Next day in comes a dish of Jafrani Rice, big B testing it, guesses & shoots out its exact recipe, from its taste, then he is informed by his waiter that, the honour of making that dish does not belong to his hotel, it has been sent by the customer, whom he had insulted.
Thus begins the odyssey of love, the fiery but intelligent exchanges between Tabbu and big B is the best thing in whole movie. At times though the dialogues go a little overboard and we are reduced to feeling ashamed. Director could have avoided that. Then there is little 6 year old neighbour ‘Sexy’ who is dying of cancer, who plays a big Mamma & agony Aunt to big B and his big ego. At times play is brilliant, but at others it just manages to become cheap.
Ultimately Tabbu and Big B decide that they should marry, speaking to big B’s mother is not a big problem & Tabbu manages that without much difficulty. Talking to Tabbu’s father, played by Paresh Rawal, is a real pain in the a** for big B, considering he is not only as old Tabbu’s father but couple of years older than him!
Inevitable refusal from him leads us to second part of this movie, and here it becomes just another plain Bollywood drama with Paresh Rawal taking a fast unto death and big B trying to win him over with food and some old fashioned reasoning, but nothing works as we move towards climax.
In the end the big Kutub Minar comes to rescue (believe me!), as Amitabh hugs the iron pillar in front of Kutub Minar, with his back towards the pillar, and tries to touch his two hands together, from behind the pillar, his mother comes in nick of time and helps him to pull his hands together. When someone manages to do this, his wishes are fulfilled.
I would not spoil your fun, by telling what happens next, suffice it to say that, there are flashes of brilliance as well as moments where the humour gets too under the waist and embarrasses us.
But it is worth it, if you can not get enough of Amitabh. Tabbu doesn’t speak, much, but God! That sly look from the corner of her eyes, it would be enough to turn your heart to jelly anytime. Of course love the title song.

Up, close and personal with uterine fibroids!

Got this hyserectomy specimen recently, on cuttiing open it revealed beautiful fibroids. Dr. John Minarcik of Rosalind Franklin University liked it so much that he made this teaching video. Thank you Dr. Minarcik, I am flattered!

Hori khere raghubira...

Glad that I did not title this post 'Country in riot of colors'; the phrase I found to have been over used & cliched. Check out these items from ibnlive or NDTV.
But then I realised that, that is what it is! A riot of colors!
See for yourself -


But senior generation was conspicuous by their absence. Though I suspect that some of them might have been busy with this -


Previous night we burned a quiet holi in the backyard of our house.


Myself, my wife & son made a list of things that we fear and things that each of us should not be doing. And we burned that list in the holi, it was interesting to see our fears turn to ashes in holi. We all preyed that we will improve after this symbolic act!
Happy holi!